1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an outside mirror system including a mirror which is disposed on an outside of a vehicle to reflect a rearward view and a mirror which is disposed integrally underneath the mirror to reflect an outside downward view relative to the vehicle.
2. Related Art
There is known an outside mirror system including a rearview mirror which reflects a rearward view relative to a vehicle and a downward-view mirror which reflects an outside downward view relative to the vehicle (refer, for example, to JP-A-9-290687 (Page 4, FIGS. 5, 7) which is referred as Patent Document No. 1).
Patent Document No. 1 will be described based on the following figures.
FIGS. 10(a), (b) are diagrams which explain a basic configuration of a related art. A related-art outside mirror system 101 is such that an outside mirror 103 which confirms a vision to the rear of a vehicle body and a prism glass 104 which confirms a vision to the front of the vehicle body are mounted on an outside mirror main body 102. The prism glass 104 is such that an upper surface 105 and a rear surface 106 are made up, respectively, of flat planes and are formed into an L-shape and a front surface 107 is formed into a free curved surface which projects towards the front of the vehicle body. Consequently, the outside mirror system 101 is such as to realize a reduction in the number of parts and reduce the movement of the driver's eyes.
In the outside mirror system 101 of Patent Document No. 1, however, when attempting to provide a wider view for the driver, the size of the prism glass (the transparent member) 104 is increased, which deteriorates the external appearance of the vehicle is deteriorated, and the external aerodynamic friction force is increased.
In addition, when the outside mirror system 101 becomes large, the range of a dead angle for the driver is increased, making it difficult for the driver to drive the vehicle.
Even with a construction in which the prism glass 104 is combined with a reflecting mirror (including a convex mirror), when attempting to provide a wider view, the reflecting mirror becomes large in size, resulting in an increase in the size of the outside mirror system.